


Soft to the Touch

by Lesprit



Category: VICTON (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Not K-Pop Idols, M/M, Meet-Cute, Victon as art school students, confident do hanse, manicures, nail salon, self-conscious heo chan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:21:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27979509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lesprit/pseuds/Lesprit
Summary: When Chan offered to model his friend's fashion designs, he wasn't aware that it would come with having to get his nails done professionally in a salon. He's embarrassed, to say the least; he never considered putting a foot in one of these places. Hanse, on the other hand, is just a regular who likes to keep his hands soft and pretty.(for Vicfest Round 2!)
Relationships: Do Hanse/Heo Chan
Comments: 6
Kudos: 28
Collections: VICFEST®—round two!





	Soft to the Touch

**Author's Note:**

> **Prompt** #384
> 
> Chan is embarrassed, to say the least, when he's dragged into a nail salon by his friend. He's never considered putting a foot in one of these places. Hanse, on the other hand, is just a regular who likes to keep his hands soft and pretty.  
> Awkward Chan embarrassing himself. Confident Hanse who loves and accepts self-care. In case it wasn't clear, Chan's friend is not Hanse, they meet at the salon :) 
> 
> \---
> 
> I'm so excited to start writing for the Victon fandom after admiring from afar! Here goes nothing~!

“Sure, Hayoung, I’ll model your clothes for you,” he said. “It’ll be fun,” he said. That’s what Heo Chan thought when he first agreed to be his friend’s student model for her thesis fashion line. 

Chan’s done modeling before for some of the photography students; he’s good at posing without looking awkward and he’s pretty attractive if he says so himself. It’s half the reason he started getting asked in the first place.

This is, however, the first time he’s being asked to do his nails for it.

“C’mon, Channie,” Oh Hayoung is pouting at him from across the cafe table. “This is my thesis collection, it’s a huge deal and I want the portfolio photos of them to be perfect!”

Chan looks down at his fingers, curved around his to-go latte. They’ve got a little charcoal under his nails from his mandatory figure drawing class, but he doesn’t think they’re that bad. Nothing a little water wont fix.

“Look, I’ll even pay for it,” she continues after a moment of his reluctant contemplation. “You can just use my nail polish remover on them right after we shoot on Saturday. Besides, I don’t even think anyone will notice. It can just be a clear coat to make sure they look nice.”

“It’s not about, I don’t know, the _nails_. It’s the principle of it!” Chan finally interjects. “I’ll be the laughing stock of the salon, guys don’t just go and get their nails done. It’ll be so embarrassing!” 

“I’m sure they do, you’re just being dramatic.”

“I’ve never been dramatic in my entire life,” he lies, pouting.

“Pleeease, Chan? I promise no one will laugh at you, and even if they do it’s not like you’ll ever see them again. Please? For me?”

Hayoung owes him, but Chan considers himself a good friend. He says yes.

———

Hayoung made the appointment for him at a local place with good reviews. She tells him that a lot of the local cosmetology students end up there so they’re young and open-minded. Chan supposes that helps. Still, he finds himself unsure in front of the salon around noon, debating whether or not to go through with it. He bites his lip and pulls out his phone before typing a quick message.

**Chan**  
Help

**Seungsik**  
what did sejun do this time

**Chan**  
What?  
oh, nothing.  
yet  
Hayoung is making me get my nails done for the shoot

**Seungsik**  
hell yeah free manicure  
so whats the problem

**Chan**  
wdym whats the problem?  
it’s embarrassing :( 

**Seungsik**  
what, are you afraid of ppl thinking your gay?  
cause last I check you were  
and by that I mean yesterday when you dropped your english textbook, sighed, and said “I’m too gay for this.”

**Chan**  
it’s not about that!!  
It’s about my PRIDE

**Seungsik**  
you’re being a baby  
just do it

Chan sighed, slipping his phone back into his pocket; so much for Seungsik being the nice one of their friend group. Regardless, the appointment is already paid for and he would feel too guilty leaving now, so he bites the bullet and steps into the salon.

So far so good. Hayoung was right, most of the nail techs are pretty young and all the looks he’s received have just been quick glances his direction from the sound of the door’s bells.

The salon itself is nice. A bit small, but clearly not a very old building. The interior is a modern style with sharp edges and clean-cut countertops. However, it lacks the sterile sort of atmosphere that might come with such a design by the myriad of plant life strung around and small nick knacks on the countertops and tables. 

“Um, hi,” he says, approaching the receptionist. Her name tag reads Kim Namjoo.

“Hi, how can I help you?” Namjoo asks, smiling. She doesn’t look like she’s ready to laugh him out of the store at any second, which he’ll take as a good sign. 

“I have an appointment. Heo Chan? Or maybe Oh Hayoung… I’m not sure who she made the appointment under,” he says, tapping his fingers on the countertop.

“Ah, perfect. First time here?” she asks. He wonders if she asks that of everyone she doesn’t recognize or if his nails truly look bad enough that she can tell they’ve never been attended to. He hopes it’s the former and nods regardless. “Lovely, please take a seat over there and we’ll call you when we’re ready,” she says, typing something down on her iPad and sending him one last smile. It feels genuine.

The waiting area is comfortable at least, with plush chairs and used magazines on the coffee table in front of him. There’s some girl group playing in the background and the nail techs are either working silently or making quiet small talk with their customers. No one spares him a second glance.

“Heo Chan?” a voice calls out a few moments later, and a beautiful woman with long brown hair approaches. “I’m Yoon Bomi. I’ll be working with you today,” she says, giving him a light bow. 

“Um, thank you. I’ll be in your care,” he says, failing to act casual like he had planned. 

She smiles at him. “Follow me, please.”

Bomi bring him to one of the many stations set up in two rows on each side of the room. Laid out in front of him is a variety of unfamiliar tools and different bottles; some filled with clear liquid while others are bright and colorful. He’s really in it now, huh.

Bomi gestures at him to take a seat, but she remains standing. “Namjoo told me you’ve never been here before, yeah?” He nods. “Great; we’re gonna start off by soaking your fingers in this solution for a few. This’ll make them softer and easier to work on, okay?”

She takes his fingers into his hand and he feels conscious of how soft her skin is compared to his own. She places them neatly into a little glass bowl with clear, warm liquid. “I’ll be back soon, so sit tight!” she finishes before leaving him to attend to something else.

Chan isn’t really keen on being left alone, but he supposes he doesn’t have much of a choice. Everyone’s been kind so far, but that’s part of their job. If they teased their new clients they would probably lose business, even if they are thinking that it’s weird a guy is in their salon-

His thoughts are interrupted by the sound of the salon door bells ringing out; he looks up.

He expects a younger woman, maybe university student, or a middle-aged salary woman. What he doesn’t expect is one of the hottest guys he’s ever seen. 

The guy in question has shoulder-length sleek black hair that frame a toned square jaw. He’s wearing a v-neck black t-shirt and ridiculously tight black skinny jeans with a belt. 

Chan can’t make out many more details from this distance, but he swears he can see tattoos peak out from under shirt at his collar and sleeves. Damn.

“Sese!” Namjoo exclaims from her chair at the front desk. “Haven’t seen you in a bit!” Ah, he must be a regular. That makes sense; he’s probably visiting a girlfriend who works here or something. What’s the saying - all the good ones are straight? Chan sighs.

“Yeah, midterms crept up on me. But I’m here now,” mystery guy laughs.

“You’re all mine today,” a nail tech that Chan hasn’t met up with says as she approaches the pair.

“Oh, nevermind, I should go-,”

“Shush, you,” the girl says, whacking his shoulder and he laughs again. It’s a nice sound; enthusiastic and friendly. The tech leads him through the salon, heading in Chan’s direction. She sits him down on the table next to his own and wow. 

He’s more attractive than he was from afar. Chan was right about the tattoo’s; most of them are in bold script and even more seem to peak out from under the shirt. He wonders how many more he might have that can’t be seen. He’s wearing silver jewelry; there’s a chain necklace around his neck and looped earrings. He also has a lip ring, but Chan chooses to ignore that fact for his own sanity.

He figures that the guy is just sitting there to wait for his girlfriend to get off the clock or go on break or something, but then he dips his hand in a transparent bowl similar to Chan’s own, and the nail tech walks away.

The stranger has… really nice hands. Soft-looking, unlike Chan’s which haven’t seen moisturizer in who knows how long. Maybe he should invest in a bottle. Even dipped in the water, he can make out fleck of black paint on the guy’s nails.

“A picture might last longer,” the guy says, breaking Chan from his stare. He looks up slowly, embarrassed at being caught, but the stranger is smiling. “Though I suppose your hands are kind of busy. Guess you can stare if you want, then. I know, they’re a bit rough. I usually try to come at least once a week, but I’ve been busy.”

“That was’t why I was staring!” Chan blurts out, not wanting this guy to think he was being judgmental of chipped nail polish. 

The guy blinks at him. “No?”

“Uh, no,” Chan says, shaking his head. He’s probably waiting for Chan to explain himself, but he has no intention of telling this intimidatingly attractive stranger that he was imagining how his hands would feel if he held them, so he doesn’t.

A moment passes in silence, then the guy laughs. “Okay, then,” he says, shrugging good-naturedly. “Anyway, I’m Hanse. I haven’t seen you around before.”

“Chan,” he says. “Uh, yeah. First time.”

“This place is great, I think you’ll be really happy with the results,” Hanse says, though Chan isn’t quite so sure about that. He’s still warming up to this whole pretty nails thing, even if Hanse appears to be getting his done to. But Hanse is cool. He can probably pull them off better than Chan could ever hope to. 

“They seem nice,” he says, because at least that much is true. “Do you go to school around here? I heard you mention something about midterms.” Chan says. Hanse was probably just being nice and wanted to be left alone, but Chan can’t help but want to know more about him so he takes the leap.

If Hanse minds, he doesn’t show it. “Yeah, I go to the design university a few blocks away. Illustration major.”

“Oh, I go there too,” Chan says, surprised he hasn’t seen Hanse around before. He’d remember if he had. “Graphic design,” he elaborates.

“That makes sense,” Hanse nods. “You’ve got that cool kid kind of vibe. In a good way,” he hastily tacks on, but Chan laughs. Subin’s always saying that GD boys are the equivalent of regular school jocks. Chan think’s that’s rich coming from him as an industrial design student. 

“If you’re in illustration that means you might know Seungwoo; heard of him?”

“Han Seungwoo? Super good-looking, always sketching his really pretty boyfriend from painting?” Hanse asks after a moment of consideration.

“Yeah, that sounds about right. The boyfriend’s Seungsik, he’s an old friend of mine.”

“No kidding? Small school.” Not small enough, if Chan hadn’t met Hanse yet.

When Bomi and the other nail tech come back back, Chan’s already forgotten that his hand has been soaking for some time now; and the reason he’s here in the first place. Hanse sitting next to him with his chipped black nail polish helps, but Chan’s still not convinced him being here isn’t a little strange. He frowns.

“Everything okay?” Bomi asks, taking his hands in her own and rubbing moisturizer over them. It’s cold in comparison to the solution, but he’ll admit it feels nice as she massages in between his fingers.

“Yeah, I’ve just never had my nails done before.” Why does he feel weirdly ashamed of that? It’s not like most guys have, anyway.

“Oh, I see!” she laughs, though not unkindly. “Let me know if you have any questions.” Chan nods, feeling the corners of his lips uptick just a little.

“I started getting mine done when Chorong needed someone to experiment on,” Hanse chimes in from next to them.

“Don’t act like you didn’t offer first,” Hanse’s nail tech, presumably Chorong, snorts. Hanse just laughs in response, which Chan takes to mean she’s probably right. 

Bomi eventually stops rubbing the cream into his hands and pulls out a tool from the jar nearby. It’s shaped like a tiny rectangular spoon with a curved end, and she uses it to clean up the area between his nails and skin. Chan’s pretty sure that’s what cuticles are. Maybe his nails are worse than he thought.

“Do you have a skincare routine, Chan?” Hanse asks, and he turns away from watching Bomi to face the other guy again.

“Oh, yeah I do. I break out pretty easily if I don’t,” he says.

“I figured, you have nice skin,” Hanse says, and Chan can feel his face heat up. “Getting your nails done is the same thing to me. They get pretty roughed up drawing all the time, so I try to keep them in shape.”

Chan looks back at Hanse’s fingers and then down to his own again, which are calloused at his knuckles from always holding his tablet pen for schoolwork. He took this as a sacrifice to be made for becoming an artist, but Hanse’s hands, despite likely working with a much more varied amount of tools, still look so smooth.

“I suppose that makes sense,” Chan says as Bomi switches to use a nail clipper; the only thing he’s recognized today. “In that case, though, wouldn’t nail polish be like makeup? I definitely don’t use that,” he continues, then freezes. “Not that makeup on guy is weird! Super not weird. People should totally do what they want. I just… don’t. Use it, that is.” Great, now Hanse is going to think he’s an asshole. Hanse who probably looks fantastic in makeup.

“Why not?” Hanse goes on to ask; he doesn’t seem to hate Chan yet, so that’s good. “You’re really handsome, I bet it would look good on you.” How does he say something like that so bluntly? Also, is it warm in here or is that just Chan?

“Thanks…” he hesitates. “I’ll consider it,” he says, surprised to find that he’s not lying. 

“If you ever need any tips, you should let me know. I know my way around an eyeliner pen,” Hanse continues. Chorong snickers and Hanse sends her a scathing glare. Chan doesn’t get whatever inside joke seems to have passed between them, but it’s clear they’re pretty close. He wonders with vague disappointment whether or not they’re dating.

“Hey, Chan. What do you think so far?” Bomi interrupts, gesturing down at his hands which are splayed across the table. There’s no polish yet, but they already look so much better than when he came in. The edges around his nails are neat and precise. Even without a coat they have a clean, even shine to them.

“They look lovely, thanks Bomi,” he says, smiling at her. She beams.

“I’m glad! Now, what are we thinking for polish today?”

“Oh, just clear, please,” Chan says. He kind of wants a color now, just to see how they would look. But he doesn’t know what Hayoung’s designs look like so he doesn’t want to accidentally clash with them.

“Hm, okay. Next time, then,” she hums, dutifully pulling out a clear glass bottle. Next time, he wonders. He’s not sure he’ll be brave enough to go without a reason. Maybe he’ll ask Hayoung if there’s any other designs she wants photographed. 

Bomi gets to work painting his nails with the tiny brush on the bottle cap. She goes through all of his nails once, and then again whilst making conversation with Chorong about the hot gossip of some of their regulars. Even Hanse speaks up occasionally like he knows the customers as well; Chan had thought him going once a week had been an exaggeration, but he’s starting to think he really does care that much. Now Chan really wants to feel how nice his hands must be.

“And finished!” Bomi exclaims, gesturing to Chan’s hands again on the table. “I’m just gonna warm them up to set them, okay?” Chan nods, trusting her technique. She pulls out a machine from under the table and plugs it in, switching it on. It emits a bright orange light which is comfortably warm when she position’s his hands under it. “I’ll come back in a few to check on them.”

Chorong finishes Hanse’s hands a few moments later having spend a little extra time removing the old polish from his nails, though didn’t need as much time cleaning around his nails otherwise since they’re so well maintained. His chosen polish this time is still black, but now with an attractive matte finish. Chorong also sticks Hanse’s hands under the dryer and they’re left alone.

“If you were to get a color, what would it have been?” Hanse asks out of the blue. Chan looks over at him and thinks a moment. 

“I think I’d also get black, now that you mention it. Probably goes well with everything.” Hanse grins and nods. “I’m modeling a fashion design friend of mine’s clothes for some photos and wasn’t sure if a color would go well with her pieces, that’s why I got clear,” he continues. He doesn’t want Hanse to think he’s lame for not choosing a color - though the more he interacts with him, the more he thinks Hanse is a big proponent for “doing whatever the hell you want.”

“I was wondering what got you here,” Hanse said. “You seemed kind of nervous, before. I thought maybe you lost a bet.”

Chan giggles, and Hanse’s smile grows. “That actually sounds like something that would happen to me,” he pauses. “You’re right though, I was kind of nervous. I thought it would be weird, sitting here and getting my nails done. Like I’d stick out, you know? Maybe it’s not weird for celebrities or people who are more fashion-forward or with better aesthetics, like you. But I’m just me, you know?”

“What do you mean, just you? You’re lovely,” Hanse says, his face is soft and Chan doesn’t get the feeling that he’s saying that just to be nice. He feels his stomach flutter and his heart skip a beat. 

“Thanks…,” he mutters, embarrassed but grateful. “You helped my calmed my anxieties, I’m glad I got to meet you,” he says.

Hanse’s grin grows larger. “Happy to help,” he says. “Hey, what are you doing on Saturday? I wasn’t kidding about you looking good in makeup… I could do you up if you wanted?”

“I’m busy Saturday,” Chan says, and Hanse frowns. “Oh, it’s the photoshoot… not that I don’t want to. I’m free Sunday, if that works for you?”

Hanse laughs, “You scared me for a minute, I thought I was coming on too strong. Sunday works,” he nods. 

Chan grins. He’s not as convinced that he’ll look as good as Hanse suggests, but he’s willing to try, especially if it means more time to hang out with the guy. He’s a little worried about one thing, though: “You… you aren’t by any chance dating Chorong, are you?” he asks, hoping it’s not too strange a question. For all he knows Hanse is just trying to spread the destruction of gender norms, but Chan kind of wants it to be more.

Hanse, however, chokes and then yelps, pulling his hand away from the drying machine and blowing on them. “Hanse! You okay?” Chan asks as Hanse pouts and puts his hand back under the orange light.

“Yeah, yeah - believe it or not, this isn’t my first time burning myself on one of these. To answer your question, no, no I’m definitely not dating Chorong,” he laughs. “I guess I should have made myself more clear. I would love for Sunday to be a date, if you’re interested.”

Chan feels a weight of worry being released from his shoulders. “It’s a date,” he says, smiling first at Hanse, then down at his hands which he’d like to grow to love more. He thinks Hanse might be able to help him with that.

**Author's Note:**

> Writing this fic reminded me that I haven't been into a nail salon in a white, I kind of want to go back (when it's safe to do so!) 
> 
> Also, since this was my first fic writing these boys, I'm looking forward to improving and figuring out how to write them!
> 
> Thank you for reading this fic to the end, and I hope you enjoyed it! If you did, please consider leaving a kudos and/or comment! 
> 
> I'll leave my twitter here after reveals!


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